'The Vampire Diaries' Season 8 spoilers news: Kat Graham to exit the show as Bonnie dies; Elena Gilbert set to return?
Rumors are rife that the previous female lead of The CW's supernatural drama series. "The Vampire Diaries" will make a return on the show's eighth season. It is expected that Nina Dobrev, who played the role of Elena Gilbert from Seasons 1 to 6, will appear in Season 8. However, with Dobrev's return, another cast member might be saying goodbye as Kat Graham is rumored to leave the show.
The character of Dobrev was mentioned during the final scenes of "The Vampire Diaries" Season 7 finale, where Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) was seen having hallucinations of his girlfriend inside the forbidden Vault of The Armory. After that episode, it has been speculated that Elena Gilbert herself will return for Season 8. Even the series' executive producer and showrunner, Julie Plec, is positive that the actress will return.
"Obviously things can change throughout time, if the show goes on longer than we expect it to, or if we all collectively decide it would be fun to bring her back earlier, and she wanted to," Plec said in an interview with TV Line regarding Dobrev's comeback.
"But in my opinion, she was very clear about what she wanted the next step in her life to be, and she's doing a great job of achieving that. So I'm sticking with my side of the plan, which is to bring her back at the very end."
Plec also revealed earlier Elena still has a lot of stories that the show was not able to touch due to Dobrev's exit in Season 6. If the actress gave a go signal to do the remaining chapter based on her availability, then they would be able to finish it.
"There is still a chapter of Elena's story left to be told... I'll take Dobrev for whatever she's willing to do to tell that story," Plec said.
It can be recalled from Season 6 that Elena and her best friend, Bonnie Bennet (Kat Graham) were placed under a jinx by the show's former villain, Kai Parker (Chris Wood). The jinx would place Elena in a deep sleep and there would be no physical or magical means of waking her up from the cursed slumber. The only way to wake her up is through Bonnie's death. The main characters of the show have then decided to let Bonnie live the days remaining in her mortal life while Elena lies asleep in a protected coffin.
If Elena does return alive in Season 8, then Graham's character may finally end up dead. This could be possible as the Hollywood Life reported that Graham will be leaving the series in the upcoming season. In the print, Bonnie may sacrifice her life for Damon and Enzo (Michael Malarkey) who are now enslaved by the creature in the Vault from the Season 7 finale.
